Fireworks like Stars
by DoomedToBeACrazyFanGirlForever
Summary: Stargazing can be a bit hard when you can't see the stars, so you just gotta settle for the fireworks. Just a little drabble, inspired by yet not at all related to the Fall Out Boy song "Fourth of July" P.S. I might add a part two. Stay tuned!
1. Chapter 1

"Come on Wally!" With childlike glee, Dick dragged his best friend up the sloping hill, laughing as he stumbled over grassy tufts and shrubs. "We're gonna miss the fireworks!"

It was the Fourth of July, and Bruce and Barry were out of League business, so Wally was staying at Wayne manor with Dick and Alfred. They had already gone to the Garrick's annual Fourth of July Barbeque, but now they were running up one of the hills on the edge of Gotham in preparation for the fireworks show.

"Slow down!" Wally's nervous cry made Dick skid to a stop. Whipping around, he grabbed the ginger by his shoulders, a serious expression on his face.

"Wally. Did you, a speedster, really just ask me to _slow down_?" His mock seriousness was broken by a devilish smile.

In order to avoid inevitable teasing, Wally spoke quickly. "Come on, there are roots and bushes everywhere, I'm gonna trip!"

"Never stopped you before." Dick's smile grew; eyes taunting.

"Fine, you want fast? I'll give you fast!" Wally's frown morphed into a smirk, and with a whoosh, he swept Dick off his feet and ran up the hill, unceremoniously dumping his cargo when he reached the top. Apparently, Dick found this hilarious, laughing heartily as he picked himself up off the ground.

"Gee, what's got you so happy?" Wally looked quizzically at the laughing boy. "Not that I mind," he added quickly, "I'm just curious."

Dick laughed again. "I guess I'm just excited for the fireworks." Spreading out the blanket they had brought, he sat down with a smile. "You see, I really love stargazing, but there obviously aren't many stars to see here." He gestured to the smog filled sky. "So the fireworks are the closest thing."

Wally grinned. "Stargazing, eh? Interesting hobby for the Boy Wonder."

The ebony's eyes softened. "Yeah, I guess it is, but my parents and I used to stargaze every night."

At the mention of Dick's parents, Wally's smile was replaced by a morose expression. "Oh… sorry for bringing them up."

"No, it's okay. It's a good memory." Dick smiled over at Wally. "Over the years, I've realized that I'm not going to be able to forget them — and I don't want to — so it's not going to do any go do me any good if I pretend it never happened. Might as well focus on the happy times, right?"

Wally smiled tentatively, surprised and proud of his friend's epiphany. "Yeah, you're right. So, do you want to tell me about it? About them?"

"Yeah." The way Dick's eyes lit up, Wally couldn't help but grin. A sudden boom interrupted them. As sparks showered the sky, Dick leaned back to observe. "Looks like the fireworks started."

They sat there in silence for the next few fireworks before Dick spoke again.

"Every night, they'd take me stargazing. If we were on a train, my dad would open the door to the roof and we'd all lie below it. Once I was old enough, he would even take me on the roof sometimes." Eyes still trained on the lightshow, Dick broke into a grin. "It was great. On the days we were set up for a performance, they'd take me outside and my mom would tell the stories of the constellations before I fell asleep. Then they'd carry me to bed and tuck me in."

"Wow." Wally was in awe. "Every night? That's impressive."

"Yeah, every night." Dick smiled proudly. "And on the days we couldn't see the stars; Mom would tape some paper over a flashlight and poke holes in it. We'd shine it on the ceiling and then make up constellations of our own." By then, the fireworks were slowing down, preparing for the finale.

"Your parents sound amazing."

With that, an explosion of lights signaled the end of the fireworks show, and the beginning of a night full of stories.

"Yeah, they really were."


	2. Chapter 2: Consteallations

**And here's chapter two! I'm personally surprised I got this done so quickly! Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

"You still awake?" Wally's loud whisper made Dick groan.

"Yes I'm still awake, how do you expect me to sleep with you tossing and turning like that?"

When the boys had returned from watching the fireworks, Alfred had made the grave mistake of offering them cupcakes. Wally of course had eaten ten. Now Dick was stuck sharing a bed with a fidgeting speedster on a sugar high. It was only 11:30, but it had been a long day, so Dick was exhausted.

"Sorry." Wally squirmed again. "Since neither of us can sleep, do you wanna do something?"

The ebony sighed. "We might as well." He had to tire out the speedster somehow.

"Sweet!" Wally leapt out of bed, disappearing in a flash (ha ha) and returning a second later with two video games. "Call of Duty or Halo?"

Dick stretched. "Neither," he spoke through a yawn. "Too loud. Believe it or not, Alfred actually sleeps and he doesn't much like being woken up."

"Awww," the ginger frowned. "What are we going to do then?"

"Actually, I have an idea." Walking over to his closet, Dick climbed up on his dresser and reached for something hidden far back on the top shelf. Finding what he was looking for, he hopped down from his dresser and landed without a sound, a small shoebox in hand.

"What's that?" Wally watched as Dick set the box on his bed, gently removing the lid and taking some papers off the top. Reaching into the bottom, he pulled out a medium sized flashlight with a small piece of black construction paper taped to the top.

"No way…" Wally gaped in awe. "Is that…?"

Dick nodded, answering his unfinished question. "I kept it. My mom made this one the night before…" He trailed off; frowning a bit, but Wally understood what he meant.

"Oh." The red head looked at his friend sympathetically.

"Yeah. We were in Gotham, so we couldn't see the stars. So my mom made this. My dad was busy helping set up the big top that night, so it was just my mom and I."

"Wow." Wally didn't really know what to say. Dick's parents had always been a very important part of his life, and Wally felt like Dick was sharing a piece of them with him. He felt honored.

Propping up the flashlight between two pillows, Dick switched it on and flopped down on the bed. Wally joined him and was so caught up in his amazement that he almost missed Dick's quiet whisper.

"I remember our constellations."

"Hmm?" Wally wasn't sure he heard the boy right — he wasn't even sure he was _supposed_ to hear him.

"I remember our constellations," Dick spoke louder. "The ones my mom and I made up that night."

"Really?" Wally couldn't express how excited he was that Dick was sharing this all with him, but he kept himself contained. "Can you — can you show me?"

Dick nodded, causing the pillow to rustle. "There were only four. Wait—" He sat up abruptly and scrambled off the bed, digging through his desk drawer and returning a moment later. "I got my laser pointer," he held up his prize. "It'll be easier to point them out that way." Clicking it on, Dick pointed the little red light at the ceiling. "It's kind of funny, because my mom and I could never agree on the names of the constellations. Normally we'd have my dad decide, but since he wasn't there, some of these have two names. This one we could agree on though, it was easy." He circled a little area of stars. "We called it Zitka, because it looked like my favorite elephant." Tracing the image, he continued. "See, here's the head, and here's the trunk. That star is the eye. Do you see it?"

Wally smiled. "Yeah, I see it!"

Dick moved on. "Here's another one, right by that little tear. Oh, funny story: when that got ripped, I was really sad, but my mom told me that it could just be a comet, or a shooting star. But anyway, this one is called Hayley's, because it looks like a big top, see?" Dick traced a pattern in the shape of a tent. "Well, actually, I called it Hayley's. My mom wanted to call it home, because she always said Hayley's was our home. We always argued about that, because I said that homes couldn't always be moving, so Hayley's couldn't be our home." Dick chuckled lightly. "She was right though. Sometimes, home doesn't have to be a place, it can be people too."

"Agreed." Wally nodded, even though he knew Dick couldn't see him. "Wait, if you called that one Hayley's, and it's right by the comet, does that mean the comet it Hayley's Comet?" The speedster laughed at his own joke. "Ahh, science jokes rock."

Dick snorted. "Technically, that would be an astronomy joke."

"Psh, whatever." Wally punched Dick, who in return pushed him off the bed. "Duuuude!" Wally's indignant cry made Dick laugh. Soon enough though, Wally dragged himself back onto the bed and the ebony continued.

"This one is a bit harder to see. It's supposed to be an angel, but you kind of have to squint to see it." Dick outlined a conglomeration of stars. "This is supposed to be the head, and these the wings, and this was some sort of body. It looks kinda funny, but hey, we didn't have much to work with."

"No, I see it," Wally reassured his friend. "Seriously, don't worry, that totally looks like an angel. I mean, have you seen some of the real constellations? You pick out a couple lines and suddenly you have a warrior fighting a dragon or whatever. This makes total sense compared to that."

Dick snickered. "I guess you're right. But yeah, my mom always thought that angel was a bit unoriginal, so she wanted to call it Grayson. She said it made sense, since angels can fly, and that's what Graysons do too. They fly. I said that was silly, because humans couldn't fly." He paused. "I guess I was kind of right."

Wally didn't really know what to say to that, and apparently neither did Dick, because they sat in silence for a few minutes before he continued, moving the laser over to a small corner of stars.

"She called this one Robin." Dick's voice was a lot quieter, and Wally had to strain to hear it. "She said it looked like a flying bird, but I never really saw it. I guess I do now… There's the head, there are the wings, and that's the body." Dick traced out the bird's shape. "Yeah, I see it now." He clicked off the pointer. "She called it Robin, because that was my nickname. She always called me her "little robin", and I actually didn't like it that much. I always complained that it was embarrassing and that I wasn't little and whatnot. I wanted her to call me eagle, because it sounded cooler. She never budged though. She said she would call me her "little robin" for as long as she lived." Dick sniffled quietly. "Ironic, because people are still calling me Robin to this day." There was a bitter, sad, tone to his voice, not to mention it quivered a bit as well. More sniffles followed, and eventually Wally had to ask.

"Are you… crying?" He was quiet and careful, mindful not to make his tone condescending in any way.

Dick immediately wiped his eyes and sniffled again. "No," his voice broke. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "No. I'm fine. I'm not crying."

Wally knew he was lying though. Normally the young Bat was excellent at lying, but this time his emotions betrayed him. But Wally didn't care. He understood how Dick felt — feeling sad yet not wanting sympathy, crying and not wanting anyone to notice. So he didn't bring it up. Instead, he subtly placed his hand over Dick's in a reassuring gesture.

"Those were amazing constellations. Thanks Dick." The words were simple, but their meaning was deep. It was a thanks for everything, a thanks for all the times they spent together, a thanks for trust, and a unspoken promise. A promise that Wally would always be there for his best friend.

And Dick knew that.

* * *

**Viola! A fluffy end to this little two shot. I'll let you in on a secret though, there is a 99.99% chance that they totally fell asleep like that and that Alfred comes to check on them and puts away the flashlight and tucks them in and that they totally end up cuddling in the middle of the night and when they wake up the next morning they brush it off like nothing and play video games and have an awesome bro day and _yes._**

**Just saying ;)**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and please favorite and review!**

**P.S. I sketched out the constellations while I wrote this, just in case you want to see them. :) (**** postimg image /3rbcgh07n /) Just take out the spaces. **

**-A**


End file.
